Andrew Bramhill - Life-Changing Sayings of the Lord Jesus - Class 2 - The Call - Responding Over

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:05

   Thank you, Jake, and good morning, everybody. Nice to see you all. Yes, on Tuesday, the week’s fair flying by, isn’t it? So we’re talking this morning about about responding to the call and the point I’m going to make, which I make now so you don’t miss it, is that it’s not a one off thing. We’re going to be responding over and over and over. And that’s what we’re going to see as we spend a little bit of time together in our scriptures this morning. Just want to finish off with a little point, though, from last night, which we didn’t quite conclude because we were talking about preparing for the Kingdom, and I was talking about the vision coming and seeing through the judgement. Because we are not in condemnation, but we stand justified that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. And and we’re we’re in hope of that. I want to just start this morning in Second Chronicles 29 for a moment, if I may, which is an odd place to start. Perhaps I want to think about the coming Kingdom as we set our minds ready for responding to the call. You see, it’s if you’re, if you’re expecting a Kingdom to come, I wonder what you do for it whilst you’re waiting. Right.

2. 1:29

   Put, put, put yourselves in the in the position of William and Kate. OK. I don’t know William and Kate. I’ve never met William and Kate. Ironically, the only time I’ve ever seen them from a distance was on a beach in Australia of all places. You, you Australians think we see the royal family around and about all the time. We never, ever see them in this country, but overseas you might. And Sue and I happened to see them. It was only William, Kate Sue me three and and 3000 others on the beach, but we saw them as a distance. Think about William OK, he is the next king of England. If if the natural process works out, he knows that one day a Kingdom is coming to him.

3. 2:19

   He doesn’t know when, he doesn’t know how soon, He might have to wait till he’s 74 like his father did, but one day a Kingdom is coming to him. So the most peculiar position to be in is now. What do you do whilst you’re waiting for the Kingdom to come? He knows it’s happening but he doesn’t know when. And I wonder what you feel or I I can absolutely guarantee that a Kingdom is coming to you.

4. 2:46

   So, so So what? What do we do? Did you just sit back and say, well, it’s coming one day, I’ll just wait. Like like you wait for the train, it’ll come soon. I’ll just sit and wait. Or do you do something? What’s William doing? Is he just sitting at home waiting or is he active?

5. 3:04

   Is he doing, is he preparing? Does he have ideas what he will do when his Kingdom comes to him? Interesting idea, isn’t it? But we’ll take you to to Second Chronicles 29, because here we meet Hezekiah at the time of his Kingdom coming to him. And we’re not going to do a little study of Hezekiah, but I just make the point that in verse one of Second Chronicles 29, Hezekiah began to reign when he was 5 and 20 years old. OK.

6. 3:36

   So his Kingdom came to him when he was 25. You can all relate to that. I can’t really, but you can. And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David, his father, has done.

7. 3:55

   So that’s our introduction to him. It comes to the Kingdom. He doesn’t know he’s going to get it when he’s 25, but at 25 years old, the Kingdom arrives and we’re told that he did the right thing in verse 2. And verse 3 tells us why he did the right thing, because in the first year of his reign, verse three, in the first month, he opened the doors of the House of the Lord and prepared and repaired them. Now I find that quite interesting because this young man, 25 is still young.

8. 4:29

   This young man knew his Kingdom was coming, knew that one day it would be his, and he had a plan as to what he would do in that Kingdom. And it was a thing for God, wasn’t it? He was going to get the House of God, the temple repaired, restored. He was going to make sure that the worship in his Kingdom was properly centred on that rightful place in Mount Zion.

9. 4:52

   He’d got this plan in place. So before the Kingdom came, he’d taken steps. He’d make preparations. He didn’t get to the first month of his reign and think, right, what am I going to do? Let’s form a committee. Let’s get a working party together. And in three years time he’s got some plans and he starts his temple restoration doesn’t do that.

10. 5:13

    He’s ready to go on day on day one. And I just take you down to verse 17, because verse 17 tells us it wasn’t the first, the first month of the first year, but it was the first day of the first month of the first year. As soon as his Kingdom comes, he knows what he’s going to do.

11. 5:33

    Now that suggests to me that as a young man he was making preparations for the Kingdom. He’d got ideas. He knew the rightful things that he ought to do when the Kingdom came to him, and he’d made plans and preparations. So when the Kingdom comes, he’s there, He knows, he presses the button and he starts his work. That’s a marvellous thing.

12. 5:55

    And, and I wonder then put yourselves in the position of waiting for the Kingdom. I guarantee you the Kingdom will come. And I wonder what we’re doing that there is a fair probability that a number of us are just thinking, well, I’ll wait. I don’t know what I’ll do in the Kingdom. I’ll wait till Jesus tells me what I’ll do in the Kingdom. Well, Hezekiah wasn’t like that.

13. 6:16

    He, he got this sorted out in his own mind. He knew about the right things and he had a plan to put them in place. So, so as we progress this morning now where we’re thinking about the call and the Lord Jesus Christ inviting us to respond to him, just just think about this, you know, this preparation for the Kingdom and what steps we might be taking now.

14. 6:41

    It’s the simple Bible principle isn’t it, that if you are to be saved you need to be baptised? OK, could anyone just mention a verse or two that you might take someone to if they said, oh where does it say that in our scriptures to be baptised, to be saved, we must be baptised. Which verse would you quote someone or show to someone to help them with that?

15. 7:08

    Mark 16, just settle on Mark 16, verse 16. That’ll do me very nicely. Yes, he that believes and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Yeah, very good. You could go to lots of verses in the Acts. Would you just indulge me a moment or two. Look, look, look at how our first principles work. Brothers and sisters sat with me in in Acts chapter 2 for a moment, would you?

16. 7:36

    These are how our key teachings work in the Word of God. Acts chapter 2, verse 38. Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. That’s Peter speaking clearly there. Look at chapter 4 and verse 12. You could underline all these verses.

17. 8:12

    Peter again, verse 12, chapter 4. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Chapter 8, verse 12, another key verse. You might have these all underlined already. 8 verse 12, when they believed Philip preaching the good things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Chapter 16, verse 31, we could go on. You turn the page after page after page after page when there’s a key teaching in Scripture. The Bible is full of it.

18. 8:55

    So when it’s about baptism and we are called to be baptized, lots and lots of verses to confirm it. When it’s the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the New Testament is just full of it. When it’s the Trinity, oh boy, you have to scratch away at half a verse here and try and make something of it or a phrase which you might think is a bit ambiguous here and build something on it.

19. 9:22

    You know, if it’s a false doctrine, you can’t really find it in Scripture at all. But when it’s a strong first principle, it’s just there on every page. So, so, so just bear that in mind, you know, if, if someone’s quoting a 1/2 a verse and they’re reading it a bit unusually and building a false doctrine on it, well, see if you can find something else which backs it up.

20. 9:44

    Unless you can turn page after page and say, Oh yeah, it’s here. Oh, it’s here as well. Oh, it’s here as well. That’s how you realise that these are the key teachings. These are our first principles. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ knew about baptism. He himself submitted to the act of baptism.

21. 10:02

    He was committed to the baptism of his death in order that the possible might be done, the impossible might have been done for mankind. And it’s his conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3 please, that I’d like to start this morning session with please. Because the Lord Jesus Christ taught baptism, but he didn’t actually baptise anybody. I think that was probably quite wise. It wasn’t that he didn’t agree with baptism or didn’t think it right, but just imagine if you had been baptised in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ and you personally had been baptised by Jesus.

22. 10:43

    Oh, wouldn’t that make you feel special? Yet look at me, I Jesus baptise me. You can imagine it can’t you, That that there was to be no status amongst 1st century believers. They were all one in the Lord Jesus Christ. So his disciples did all the baptising, not the Lord Jesus himself. He wasn’t going to give anyone the opportunity to boast about who had baptised them, but yet he believed it. He succumbed to the ACT.

23. 11:09

    He, he, he, he gave himself through the waters of baptism to the will of his father. And here he is having a conversation with Nicodemus, this man who comes to him by night. And and this this gives to us our next life changing saying and it’s one of the most obvious ones when you think about it, because here is the Lord Jesus Christ saying in verse 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. It’s an obvious thing to say and you need to change your life by succumbing to the waters of baptism and being born again. So Jesus makes this this statement. Just look at verse 2, the same that’s Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest accept God be with him.

24. 12:09

    So, so Nicodemus is impressed by Christ’s miracles that we’ve actually only read of 1 so far, but we know that other signs were taking place. The one that John has recorded so far is water into wine. But Nicodemus, who is a teacher in Israel, a senior person in Israel, he’s impressed by these miracles. He knows that Christ must have come from God. That’s what he says here.

25. 12:36

    And so he comes secretly at night to have a conversation with the Lord Jesus. And he’s coming secretly at night because he’s hedging his bets here, isn’t he? He’s he’s not wanting to damage his reputation. He doesn’t want to be seen with the Lord Jesus Christ yet. And he’s sort of in his own mind getting persuaded, but he doesn’t want other men to know yet.

26. 12:59

    He doesn’t want to give up on his former ways. So he comes with this idea that he wants to talk to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus makes clear this statement. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God born again. Your, your translation, your margin might say born anew or born from above. That’s the idea here, isn’t it?

27. 13:24

    So this isn’t your natural birth. It isn’t a second natural birth. You know, it’s interesting, isn’t it, that this intelligent man says, what do I have to enter back into my mother’s womb and be born again? You know, it’s a nonsense that isn’t it. That’s not what the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about.

28. 13:41

    He’s talking about a baptism from above. And Nicodemus doesn’t quite get it. Jesus explains it again in verse 5, and there’s always something about the explanations in the Gospel of John. When the explanation is given, it’s always seems more difficult than the original statement. I don’t quite know why, but the Lord Jesus Christ does this. So he gives you a simple statement and then when he explains it, you think, wow, that’s even more confusing now. And never give up on the explanation. OK, when the Lord Jesus Christ explains something and it seems more confusing, don’t give up on it. Because when you work at it and you see what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying is in in his explanation, it opens the Scriptures far more, far more greatly for us. So Jesus in verse 5 says, verily I say unto you, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

29. 14:50

    So he elaborates a little bit now, now what? What do you make of that verse then? How, how do you explain that we have to be born of the water and the spirit? We kind of get the water that, that that’s easy enough, isn’t it? We’re going to be baptized, aren’t we? That’s, that’s pretty simple, isn’t it?

30. 15:08

    We go down into water and we are born as new people. But what do you think about being born of the spirits? Well, it just gets a little more tricky, doesn’t it? Because we of course don’t accept the idea that the Holy Spirit in in the terms of spirit gifts is available today.

31. 15:29

    We don’t believe in the incoming Holy Spirit, which gives us knowledge and understanding which other churches would believe today. We don’t accept that. And yet we’re confused a little bit because in my Bible, and maybe in your Bible, the translators have put a capital S on Spirit. And sometimes you read it and think, oh, it’s got a capital S. There must be something really important here. Don’t be fooled.

32. 15:54

    Don’t ever be fooled by capitals. When the New Testament was written in Greek, it was written in block capitals. All right, The the translators have no clue as to what should be capital and what should be lower case because the Greek was always in capitals. So so it’s a translator who stuck a capital S on there just because he might have thought the spirit was important here.

33. 16:18

    So, so how do you explain this verse and brothers and sisters, where we are told that there’s something about water which we understand and there’s something about spirit which we don’t quite understand? Well, I think it’s ever so easy. I, I, I really do. You see, when you read the word Spirit in the New Testament, it’s not just about the disciples or the apostles who had the Holy Spirit and could perform miracles or could speak in tongues or had perfect knowledge. It wasn’t that at all.

34. 16:57

    In every case there was another meaning of the word Spirit, which is you’ve got to adopt the mind from above. So you’re going to be baptized in water, but you’re going to absorb the mind from above, the mind of Christ. That’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to start to think like him. You’re going to start to speak like him. You’re going to start to behave like him. You’re going to be doing things in the spirit of Christ. That’s not a special Holy Spirit that gives you special powers. That’s because you’re doing it in the spirit of the one who has called you.

35. 17:34

    That’s what the Lord Jesus Christ is explaining to us here. Just keep a finger in John chapter 3 and I’ll, I’ll, I’ll show you this if I may. So turn over with me to Romans chapter 8. We finished here last night I think, didn’t we? With the with Paul beating himself up in Chapter 7 because of his poor performance.

36. 17:55

    And then it begins in chapter 8 having realised that he’s saved from all this by the Lord Jesus Christ. It begins in chapter 8 verse one. There is therefore now no condition, condemnation for them which are in Christ Jesus. My King James Version. Not all translations will have this. My King James Version says who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. So that’s the difference here.

37. 18:20

    We’re stopping being people who think worldly things and we’re going to try and think heavenly things. We’re going to try and be influenced by the things from above. Verse 2 carries on for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. You see, there’s a law of sin and death, and there’s a law of freedom in Christ, and a spirit of thinking like He does and behaving like he does.

38. 18:44

    This spirit which frees us from the burden of the flesh. So the Lord Jesus Christ here and his Spirit isn’t about his special powers or enabling us to do certain things, but it’s the way he thinks and feels and behaves. And I can just confirm that a little bit further by taking you over to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, please, where Paul encourages the believers to behave in his spirit, in Paul’s spirit, which is an odd thing, isn’t it? Verse four of first Corinthians 5, verse four, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now Paul doesn’t have any special spirit, does he? He doesn’t have a a special spirit that he can give to others.

39. 19:43

    He’s talking there about the way he thinks when you come together and the Lord Jesus Christ is with us and my spirit, I want you to think like I think here. I want you to judge in the way I judge. And it was a particular difficult case that he was encouraging them to, to work through and encouraging them to think like he thinks and think like Christ thinks. So back to John chapter 3.

40. 20:07

    Then you, you, you see the point here? We are to be born of water and there needs to be a change. And that helps us understand the next verse, which is quite odd. Verse 7, Verse 8, Marvel not the type. 72 you must be born again. Say Jesus, the wind blows where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. What?

41. 20:38

    What’s that verse saying? Here’s another explanation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you think, wow, this is getting even more complicated. Well, well, again, when you think about it, it’s quite straightforward. You see, you can’t see wind. No one can see wind. But you can see what the wind does, right? So it blows trees, it moves the litter along the road.

42. 21:03

    It’s it has some effect on things. The curtains waft in the draft because the wind blows. You can’t see the wind, but you can see what it does. And that just concludes then what the Lord Jesus is. Christ is saying. He says yes, you need to be baptised, but you need to change and that change needs to be evidence. I can’t see standing here whether you are baptised or not. There isn’t a big mark on your forehead here that says I’m baptised.

43. 21:36

    There’s no outward mark is there? You, you, you wouldn’t know if this was a room full of strangers. You would not have a clue who’s baptised and who isn’t. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying you need to evidence it by being a different person, a child of the Spirit. Now the way you think, the way you talk, the way you behave, no one can see this Spirit at work, but your minds need to change so that you become different people. And that’s what baptism is all about, isn’t it? You know, it’s not a one off event where we get baptized and think, great, that’s it sorted out now. Now everyone says it’s the start of something and each day you are going to try and become a child of the Spirit and you are going to try and learn and grow and behave like him. So there is some evidence that you are one who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.

44. 22:28

    Nicodemus really struggled with this, you know, in verse 9, how can these things be? He’s he’s really puzzled by what actually is a simple idea. And Jesus says in verse 10, are you a master? Are you the teacher in Israel? And know us not these things, the teacher that that that must make him someone very senior that must make him someone on the Sanhedrin. That might make him a very senior person in the Sanhedrin. He is the teacher in Israel.

45. 23:02

    Jesus says you are the teacher in Israel and you don’t get this. And, and unfortunately, this was going to be an encounter where Nicodemus is going to drift away, puzzled by it all. Just turn over to chapter 12 of John, please, because we find what happens to a number of these elders, not Nicodemus, but look what happened to these chief rulers in verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, John 1242, many believed on him.

46. 23:40

    So many were like Nicodemus, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. So So here are a group of men who came to a a logical understanding of the things of Christ sufficient to believe in him, and yet they could not make this change. And there were two things there weren’t the one was they didn’t want to suffer the consequences.

47. 24:17

    So we we were looking at Moses with brother Mark, weren’t we? Who was willing to take on the reproach of Christ because he esteemed that better than all the riches of Egypt? Well, these men didn’t want the consequences of being cast out of the synagogues. They didn’t want the consequences, but also they were rather enjoying the praise of men. And that that’s, that’s a good warm feeling when men pat you on the back and say you’re doing good things. That makes us feel good, doesn’t it? And it would be praised, replaced by opprobrium, wouldn’t it?

48. 24:54

    And these men aren’t willing to have that. They aren’t willing to give God the glory. They want it for themselves. So here’s a here’s a an interesting idea then, that we have to be baptized in the Lord into the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s step one. And you, you so far might be sitting there thinking, well, this is a comment made to those who are unbaptized that they need to respond to the call. And I guess there is an element of that. And if you are an unbaptized person, then at some stage you need to start thinking seriously about whether or not you are going to be born from above.

49. 25:35

    You need to start thinking about whether or not you’re going to respond to the call. Plenty in this room have. Plenty haven’t. Where do you stand on that? If the Kingdom comes and you haven’t for some reason got around to making that decision, where does that leave you? What, what, what, what explanation would you give to yourself for not responding to that call?

50. 25:59

    But yeah, this isn’t just a message for the unbaptised, this is a message for everyone, isn’t it? Because we are all called here to be changing. We are all called to be children of the Spirit. What kind of evidence is there? If men look at us, they can’t see that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, but what evidence can they amass now? Is the way you speak is the way you you, you act and react? Is that sufficient for men to realize that you are different? And one of the great challenges here I’ve put it in our title, responding over.

51. 26:40

    You have to keep responding. Time and time and time again, Jeremiah tells us that the mercies of God are new every morning and every morning when you wake up and you find the mercies of God, you have to choose. Am I going to take up my cross and follow him today? Every day you have to make that decision because every day when you get out of bed, you are not carrying the cross.

52. 27:05

    It’s lying there. So you can walk away from it each morning if you want that, that that’s the, that’s the default position. Actually, you can walk away from it and leave it where it is. You don’t have to pick it up. You have to make a conscious decision to pick it up. So, so let me ask you, when you woke this morning bleary eyed, full of events of last night, you know, how many of you consciously thought today I’m going to follow the Lord Jesus?

53. 27:34

    How many of you consciously thought that? I wonder, Please don’t put your hands up, but but I wonder you when you got out of bed, how many of you had that thought in your mind? I, I rather think you didn’t. I might be judging you harshly, but there’d be all sorts of other thoughts in your mind this morning.

54. 27:54

    Do do, do you ever think that, you know, do you ever get out of bed and think today, this day, I’m going to pick up my cross, I’m going to try and be like the Lord Jesus. I am going to follow him. Do you ever think that? Well, that’s what the Lord is asking for.

55. 28:07

    That’s the Lord that the Lord is wanting not just today, but every day. So the Lord is calling us now. Let me just take you to to our next saying, if I might.

56. 28:23

    This is a bizarre one, but I want to spend a little bit of time with this idea of the call. Come unto me. So let’s just start in Matthew, can we? Matthew chapter 4, verse 18. You’ll know the incident well here, disciples being called the Lord starting his ministry.

57. 28:49

    Interestingly, we read about them fishing, verse 18 on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow me. Now that’s the revised, sorry. That’s the King James Version there. If you’ve got anything other than the King James Version, it will say something like come follow me, come after me and I will make you fishers of men and notice that here is the Lord Jesus Christ saying I’m if you’re willing, I’m going to make something of you.

58. 29:34

    Remember our comments on Saturday night. This isn’t everything I’m going to give you. We’re not in a take relationship. Give me I want this is saying if you’re willing to get involved here, I’m going to make something of you. That’s where the prodigal ended up, wasn’t it? Make me as one of your hired servants.

59. 29:55

    Well, here is the Lord Jesus Christ saying that’s what I want to do. I want to make you and in this particular case it was fishers of men. So, so the disciples here have the opportunity to allow Christ to make something of them. And notice the encouragement to follow means that he’s going first.

60. 30:17

    And there’s no aspect of our discipleship, there’s no aspect of our walking Christ that he hasn’t done first. So he’s gone. He’s he’s plowed the furrow, if you like. He’s shown us the way. He’s not prepared to, to ask us to do something if he’s not willing to do it himself. He’s willing to do everything himself and he wants us to follow.

61. 30:38

    So he’s gone first. He wants to make something of us, and I think he’s wanting to use the talents that you’ve got, the skills that you’ve got. In this case, he’s taking fishes of fish to become fishermen of men. It was just changing their skills somewhat, and he’s wanting to do the same with you. I can take something from you, he says, and use it for my purpose.

62. 31:04

    Whatever it is you’ve got to offer, I can do something and make it. I can make something of it if you will allow me. Now, if you, if you go to a concordance, if you go to a search engine and put in the word, come and look at the occurrences in the gospels, you get dozens and dozens and dozens.

63. 31:22

    OK, the word comes up frequently and you think, ah, what analysis can I do on this? I’ve got 312 entries. How do I work out what’s going on here? But, but, but here actually, it’s a very interesting word and it’s a very unusual word and it’s a very strong word. It’s an imperative word. Come here says the Lord Jesus Christ, come and follow me. It’s very strong.

64. 31:50

    And he’s directing it to his disciples and he’s calling them to be with him. And this word, it’s translated following my King James. But all the other translations, it’s, it’s come, come after me. It’s a very strong word, and it does not appear very often in our Gospels. Now, what do you think? The Lord Jesus Christ is eager for us to come to him For what? What?

65. 32:18

    What do you think the Lord Jesus Christ would be calling us for when he implores us to be with Him? You, you might think this is going to be really hard. Actually, He’s calling me to be a follower of the Lord Jesus. Look at the road he had to travel. Look at the things he had to do. Look at where he had to go and all the persecution and the opposition he faced.

66. 32:42

    Is that what I’m signing up for? Well, this imperative word for come, just just look how it plays out in the gospel. So we’ve seen it here. He wants to make something of us. He wants to give us rest. Take my yoke upon you. Come follow me. Take my my burden is easy. We’re going to look at this a little later this morning. So we won’t dwell on it now.

67. 33:10

    So he’s promising I will give you rest. Come unto me and I’ll give you rest. OK. This is this is sounding OK actually come apart unto a desert place and rest a while. The the disciples had all been out preaching. They they toured the land. He’d sent them out by twos in Mark chapter 6 and they’d all come back and they’d told him the things that they’d been able to achieve and they’d come back to him and he said come aside, come into a desert place.

68. 33:46

    Let’s go and rest a while. That sounds attractive to me. That’s a caring master who wants us to come and be with him. These are chronological. This appears in a, in a, in a parable. Let’s have a look at Matthew 22. Can we where this word comes and it’s an invitation to the Kingdom because it’s a parable of the marriage feast, isn’t it?

69. 34:17

    Matthew chapter 22, we have the story of a, a certain king, verse 2, which made a marriage for his son and he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come again. He sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. All things are ready.

70. 34:41

    Come unto the marriage. That’s the word there. Come unto the marriage. What a lovely picture this is of all the preparations have been made by God. This Kingdom feast, this Kingdom celebration is coming, this marriage for his Son and he wants us to be there. Come, I implore you, I want you to be here is the message, isn’t it? And disappointingly, these, these individuals who have been invited, these guests, that they’re not interested. I find this little parable absolutely fascinating because it just underlines the key teaching of the scriptures. Here of God wants us to be in the Kingdom. Here He is imploring us.

71. 35:27

    The guests have been invited and he sent 2 reminders. Come to the wedding. Come to the wedding. Everything is prepared. Come to the wedding. It says that in verse 5. They made light of it. That’s how they responded. They made light of it. Keep a finger in Matthew, please. Would you just turn over with me to to Hebrews chapter 2 for a moment? Hebrews chapter 2 it’s talking about the word of God. So the book in chapter 1 tells us that God at various times and in various ways spoke in the times past to the fathers by the prophets.

72. 36:32

    But now verse 2, chapter 1, he’s spoken unto us by his Son. God has spoken to us by his Son. And chapter 2 picks this up, saying, you ought to listen more carefully than if God has spoken unto his unto us by his Son. Verse 1, chapter 2. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to that which have we have been, which which we have heard.

73. 36:56

    If God has spoken to us by his Son, we ought to pay attention. Verse 2, Chapter 2. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? So the things that have been spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ are offered to us.

74. 37:22

    And that phrase in verse three there, how should we escape if we neglect that word? Neglect is translated as made light of in Matthew 22. It’s the same word. They neglected the great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by His Son. I was not astonishing then.

75. 37:52

    So back in Matthew chapter 22, they are neglecting making light of this offer of salvation, and they’ve got better things to do. 1 went to his farm, one went to his merchandise, some took his servants and treated them badly and killed them. So you know the parable, how it works out. Those who were bidden verse 8 of Matthew chapter 22 were not worthy. Why were they not worthy?

76. 38:20

    Because they rejected the idea of the Kingdom. You see, I think our entry into the Kingdom, you know, is under our control. You might not think that. You might think Christ is the judge. He’s going to make an assessment. He’s going to say whether or not we can go in. Yeah, I think he’s saying, no, I want you there.

77. 38:40

    Would you like to come? And you have to decide. It’s as easy as that. You can say, yeah, I’d like to be there. What do I need to do? Oh, repent. Believe baptized. Just try. I know you’ll fail, but just try. It’s not that difficult, is it? Come on in if you want it. But some, and I fear the reality is that some perhaps in this room will say, Nah, it’s not for me. Even amongst us who are baptised, there’ll be some who will say, Nah, it’s not for me.

78. 39:13

    It’s not a tragedy. If you’ve had an opportunity, the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, come, I want you at the marriage feast. The, the, the parable concludes in a most unusual way, doesn’t it? Because if you, if you remember, they gather in all these, you know, from the highways and the byways and they fill the wedding feast, don’t they? Verse 10.

79. 39:32

    If you look at Matthew 22 verse 10, so those servants went out into the highways, gathered together, all as many as they found both bad and good. This marriage feast is filled with bad and good people. Who’d have thought it that, that the Kingdom of God is filled with good and bad people.

80. 39:54

    So if you’re a bad person, you’re not without hope here, because Christ wants us there.